The present invention relates to photonics chips and, more specifically, to structures for a polarization splitter and methods of forming a polarization splitter.
Photonics chips are used in many applications and systems including, but not limited to, data communication systems and data computation systems. A photonics chip integrates optical components, such as waveguides and bends, and electronic components, such as field-effect transistors, into a unified platform. Layout area, cost, and operational overhead, among other factors, may be reduced by integrating both types of components on a single photonics chip.
The optical components of a photonics chip may include polarization splitters that divide optical signals received at a single port into its orthogonal linear polarizations that are output through a pair of ports for individual processing in the following circuit. Conventional polarization splitters have a large footprint because the output ports are laterally spaced from the single input port by a gap that is filled by dielectric material. The large footprint, which arises from the gap and other factors, may hinder the ability to construct large-scale, high-performance heterogeneous photonics chips.
Improved structures for a polarization splitter and methods of forming a polarization splitter are needed.